Sanctuary Raids

31:43 Sanctuaries are the raids of Aion 2, instanced boss dungeons for a whole force that NC's community team calls the game's toughest PvE challenge. They opened in Korea and Taiwan in November 2025 for eight players; since Jul 1, 2026 they take ten there, and the global version starts with ten, split into two parties of five. The first Sanctuary, whose final boss NC's global stream calls Ludra, is the only raid on the global version; players cleared it in Advanced Access, and NC took it out of the Oct 5, 2026 launch build to give it new mechanics. Korea and Taiwan have since added Corroded Decontamination Facility, Muspel's Chalice and Snowfield of Sorrow, each with its own page; the wider dungeon system is on Dungeons.

Quick facts

Force size and structure

Before launch NC promised dungeons "for four or eight players" (NC, Jun 4, 2025), and in NC's first content map of August 2025 Sanctuary sits among the party content beside Expedition, Transcendence and Eradication (NC, Aug 12, 2025). Hardcore Gamer's Summer Game Fest preview still described it in June 2026 as the eight-player raid that acts as the endgame (Hardcore Gamer, Jun 16, 2026). The Chapter 1 update of Jul 1, 2026 raised Sanctuary forces to ten in Korea and Taiwan (NC, Jul 6, 2026), and NC's global livestream of Aug 7, 2026 announced the same size for the global version, as GamesBeat reported (GamesBeat, Aug 25, 2026).

32:10 In that livestream NC's producer describes the global Ludra raid: the force goes in together, then splits into two groups of five who head left and right to face a different boss each, before regrouping. He warns that the second group leans heavily on its Cleric, and his co-host stresses that party composition matters, since the mechanics can leave a force wiping twenty times over (Cleric).

11:09 Anders adds the rules of the current Korean version in September 2026. Each character can be revived only twice per boss fight, whether by a skill or a resurrection stone, so a Cleric cannot keep raising the same player; the count resets when a new boss fight starts, when the boss dies or when the whole raid wipes. Sanctuary is the only source of the higher-rarity bracelets, and each raid can currently be cleared once a week for rewards.

The launch Sanctuary

0:00 Madsin's guide of January 2026 covers the first two bosses of the launch Sanctuary, which his chapters name Rahu and Ketu. Each gives every member of the force a box of Sanctuary loot that can include gold and orange bracelets, and their phases are driven by the boss's health rather than a fixed timeline.

0:25 The raid begins with the Sanctuary Abyss Fusion Reactor, which alternates donut and X-shaped blasts while waves of monsters arrive. Auxiliary reactors appear on the left, right or center and shield it, and chosen players use jump pads to reach and break them; the reactor gives no loot. When it dies a portal sends group one to the first boss and group two to three platforms of monsters, where crystals give the fighting party buffs such as extra damage and movement speed.

1:32 The first boss marks players with a purple circle that must be passed to another player standing inside it; every time nobody takes it, a spreading pool is left on the floor, and a third pool enrages the boss and kills the force. It also casts a blast that covers the whole arena except a thin cone behind it and kills anyone it hits.

8:12 The second boss's crystal phase shows how the Korean and Taiwanese community solved one mechanic. The intended answer is for players to break soul stones in turn for four seconds of invulnerability while a room-wide attack pulses, but Madsin says that pick-up groups and static groups alike sacrifice everyone except the Cleric, who eats every crystal alone and then resurrects the party.

The fan translations of the Korean patch notes record the launch raid's reward changes: on Nov 26, 2025 the minimum number of players needed to enter was set at eight; on Dec 9 the rewards of Rahu the Separator and Ketu the Abyssal Wing were raised slightly; and on Dec 16 each of them began giving eight Abyssal Boxes (Imprint), while the guaranteed rewards of the final boss, Eternal Rudra in the translation, became Abyss equipment and Equipment Change Tickets that convert, with 10,000,000 Kina, into a chosen weapon, armor piece or accessory (Patch Notes, Fextralife).

Corroded Decontamination Facility

6:35 NC's Season 2 roadmap scheduled a new Sanctuary for Feb 25, 2026 (NC, Jan 7, 2026), and Xela's summary of it in January 2026 describes a new eight-player raid meant to be harder than Ludra.

It arrived on Mar 11, 2026 as Corroded Decontamination Facility, which NC called the most challenging PvE dungeon in the game at the time. It is set in a ruined Balaur base contaminated by experimental waste and abandoned test subjects, ends with the final boss Terminator Bargott, and gives Hero- and Unique-grade weapons and bracelets; its entry requirement is 3,700, which NC's release words as a minimum "level" and fan coverage reads as item level (NC, Mar 11, 2026; Balaur).

0:00 On Mar 27, 2026 TheWhelps posted a run through all its bosses from a Ranger's point of view (Ranger).

Muspel's Chalice

NC's release of May 13, 2026 announced the next Sanctuary, "Musphel's Goblet", for May 27, 2026 (NC, May 13, 2026); players know it as Muspel's Chalice or Chalice of Muspel.

0:00 Madsin filmed its first boss, which his title names Iscariel, from a Cleric's point of view on May 27, 2026, and the Hard mode of its second boss, Kaldrix, a month later. Anders notes that the brooch equipment slot is filled from this raid, which is not part of global season 1.

Snowfield of Sorrow

0:25 NC's roadmap of June 2026 listed Snowfield of Sorrow among the Chapter 1 dungeons (NC, Jun 17, 2026). Blazeon's video on the Korean and Taiwanese maintenance of Sep 9, 2026 presents it as the patch's headline: a new Sanctuary with three difficulties, Easy, Normal and Hard, and a server-wide leaderboard of first clears. Blazeon's reading of the patch ties its story to Deltras, commander of the Storm Legion, and describes a vast frozen war zone rather than an ordinary ice cave.

2:56 The Hall of Fame records the first, second and third kills of the last boss on each server, on Hard only. Each entry keeps the character, server and legion names, class, the highest combat power and item level reached during the run, the force order, the date and the time taken, and stays unchanged even if a name later changes; characters who contributed nothing are left out. The same patch added seals, a new equipment slot crafted from vouchers earned in the Sanctuary.

NC's Korean update notes of Sep 9, 2026 describe the Seal as a new equipment slot filled by crafting or by converting the equipment change vouchers from Snowfield of Sorrow together with Kina (NC; Gear Progression). Inven called the raid the hardest PvE content in Aion 2, with a minimum item level of 5,800 that rises to 6,200 at the highest difficulty (Inven). It did not stay unbeaten for long: the first Hard clear came at 2:16 PM on Sep 9, about four hours and 16 minutes after the maintenance ended at 10 AM (Gametoc). NC's notes of Sep 30 were still fixing its bosses, among them a finishing breath from the boss Triton that invulnerability skills could cancel (NC).

0:00 Two days after the patch Madsin posted his group's Hard-mode fight against the final boss, Deltras, from a Cleric's point of view.

12:28 Anders sees the three difficulties as a departure from how Sanctuaries have worked. He reports the developers saying that they want to move away from mechanics that need all ten players perfectly synchronized, where one mistake wipes the raid, towards difficulty that comes from reading and reacting to the boss. He does not expect the global launch raid to change to that format.

Sanctuaries on the global version

13:28 Society Of Gaming reminds global players that the ten-player raids are weekly content, played when a force chooses, and that the global launch gets only the first of them, which he calls hard enough for a start. Anders confirms that Heroic drops were removed from the global Sanctuary, so Unique is the best rarity it gives in season 1 (Gear Progression).

0:41 Raid composition carries over from Korea and Taiwan. XifanGG, an Assassin with more than 5,000 hours on the Taiwanese servers whose group was third on its server to clear a Sanctuary, ranks the Cleric and the Templar at the top for raid progression as "almost irreplaceable", with the Gladiator and the Chanter next, and describes the common setup: a Templar and a Gladiator split between the two parties, with Clerics and a Chanter (Classes).

4:05 Ludra was cleared on the global servers during Advanced Access. Krix Domi's point-of-view video of his raid's kill, uploaded on Oct 4, 2026 and titled as the global rank 1 Hall of Fame clear, shows the force fighting Ludra, a huge winged dragon, on a tiled arena flooded with purple area attacks, and ends on the Hall of Fame screen for Abyssal Forge: Ludra.

NC took Ludra out of the global launch build on Oct 5, 2026. In its notice that morning it said Ludra "was defeated at a lower level of overall progression than we originally intended" during early access, and that it did not want to release the same fight again. The raid will return with new and adjusted mechanics and attack patterns, a First Clear event with its own reward, and a reset Hall of Fame; Ludra gear earned in early access is removed until then and given back, with upgrade materials refunded, and every player who cleared Ludra in Europe during early access gets a unique title. NC promised the return date by Oct 16, but that day passed without one (NC). It named the date on Oct 23: Ludra returns on Nov 4, 2026 "with new mechanics", Normal mode at item level 2,800 and Hard mode at 3,000, and the first clear race is the Ludra Hunt, titles for the first 20 Hard mode parties in each region until Nov 24 (PST) (NC; Ludra Raid Guide).

The global version, open to everyone since Oct 5, 2026, lists "10-player group dungeons" among the more than 200 dungeons on its Steam store page (read Sep 30, 2026), and like all instanced content the raid is cross-server (NC on Steam). Two reward systems also touch Sanctuaries. NC's list of global Membership benefits, revised on Sep 28, 2026, lets members inject Odyle Energy twice into a reward cube in Expedition, Transcendence and Sanctuary instead of once (NC; Membership), and in Korea and Taiwan the Sprout Badge introduced on Jul 1, 2026 gives existing players half of the Odyle Energy spent by a new or returning player they run Sanctuaries with (NC, Jul 6, 2026).

Frequently asked questions

How many players are in a Sanctuary raid? Ten, in two parties of five, on the global version and in Korea and Taiwan since Jul 1, 2026. Sanctuaries launched in Korea and Taiwan for eight.

Which Sanctuary is in the global launch? Only the first one, which ends with Ludra, and it is out until Nov 4, 2026: NC removed it at the Oct 5 launch and, on Oct 23, named Nov 4 for its return in Normal and Hard mode. Corroded Decontamination Facility, Muspel's Chalice and Snowfield of Sorrow are later Korean and Taiwanese content.

What is the hardest Sanctuary? In Korea and Taiwan, Snowfield of Sorrow, added on Sep 9, 2026, which Inven called the hardest PvE content in the game; its Hard mode was first cleared about four hours after release. It is not in the global season one.

How often can you clear a Sanctuary? In Korea and Taiwan each raid can currently be cleared for rewards once a week, according to Anders, and the rules have changed several times since launch.

What do Sanctuaries drop? Above all bracelets, which come only from Sanctuaries, plus weapons, Abyss equipment and conversion tickets; later raids added brooches and seals. On the global version Unique is the best rarity at launch.

Does Snowfield of Sorrow have difficulty modes? Yes: Easy, Normal and Hard. Hard also feeds a server-wide Hall of Fame for the first three kills of its final boss.

How many times can you be revived in a Sanctuary? In the current Korean version, twice per character per boss fight, counting both resurrection skills and resurrection stones.

Sources

• "Ludra Awakens on November 4th", NC, Oct 23, 2026 (also on Steam)
• Aion2's Core Content Unveiled: The Complete Evolution of Aion, NC, Jun 4, 2025
• Aion 2 Showcases Core Combat Content and Signature Dungeon Gameplay, NC, Aug 12, 2025
• Aion 2 Unveils Season 2 Roadmap for 2026, NC, Jan 7, 2026
• Aion 2 Introduces New Sanctuary Dungeon, 'Corroded Decontamination Facility', NC, Mar 11, 2026
• Aion 2 Launches New Transcendence Dungeon 'Mirror of Scarlet Desire' and Announces June Showcase, NC, May 13, 2026
• Aion 2 Hosts SUMMER FESTA and Reveals Membership Changes, NC, Jun 17, 2026
• Aion 2 Rolls Out 'Chapter 1. Lands of Sand and Snow' Update, NC, Jul 6, 2026
• 30-Day Membership Added to Founder's Packs, NC on Steam, Aug 21, 2026
• Aion 2 Preview: The Future of MMORPGs, Hardcore Gamer, Jun 16, 2026
• NC promotes Aion 2 during Gamescom Opening Night Live ahead of Western early access launch, GamesBeat, Aug 25, 2026
• Patch Notes, Aion 2 Wiki (Fextralife), fan translations of the Korean notes, updated Jan 8, 2026
• [Aion 2] Beyond the Abyss: Global Release Preview, Aion 2 Official, Aug 7, 2026 (video)
• [Aion 2] Dungeon Live Gameplay Showcase, Aion 2 Official, Sep 4, 2026 (video)
• [Aion 2] Sanctuary boss 1 & 2 guide (Get your bracelets!), Madsin, Jan 7, 2026 (video)
• Aion 2 Is Changing Forever - 2026 Season 2 Roadmap, Xela, Jan 14, 2026 (video)
• Season 2 Sanctuary - Corroded Decontamination Facility - All Bosses - Ranger PoV | Aion 2, TheWhelps, Mar 27, 2026 (video)
• [Aion 2] Chalice of Muspel Boss 1 Iscariel (Cleric PoV) and Boss 2 Kaldrix [HARD] (Cleric PoV), Madsin, May 27 and Jun 26, 2026 (videos)
• Aion 2 Global Release: Complete Daily & Weekly Endgame Loop Guide (What to Expect), Society Of Gaming, Sep 1, 2026 (video)
• Aion 2 Sept 9 Patch: NEW Snowfield of Sorrow Sanctuary Dungeon, Blazeon, Sep 10, 2026 (video)
• [Aion 2] Snowfield of Sorrow Final Boss Deltras [HARD] (Cleric PoV), Madsin, Sep 11, 2026 (video)
• Aion 2 Global PVE - Every Dungeon, Raid, and Daily at Launch, Anders, Sep 15, 2026 (video)
• Don't Pick the WRONG CLASS! Aion 2 Global Tier List (PvP, PvE, F2P & ZvZ), XifanGG, Sep 29, 2026 (video)
• 9/9(수) 업데이트 노트 and 9/30(수) 업데이트 노트, NC (Korean update notes), Sep 9 and Sep 30, 2026
• '아이온2' 최고난도 성역 '비탄의 설원' 추가, Inven (Kang Min-woo), Sep 9, 2026
• 아이온2, 4시간 만에 '비탄의 설원' 최초 격파됐다, Gametoc (Kim Young-chan), Sep 9, 2026
• [Notice] 8/18 (Tues) New Product Info: Special Quai Membership (Updated 9/28), NC, Sep 28, 2026
• "Information on server transfer", NC on Steam, Sep 30, 2026
• "Update on Sanctuary Raid", NC, Oct 5, 2026
• Announcements, NC, read Oct 17, 2026, 07:30 UTC
• Aion 2 - GLOBAL RANK 1 Hall of Fame Clear (World First POV), Krix Domi, Oct 4, 2026 (video)